Navy offering easy fix for 200,000-plus locked out of NRTC

Jan. 5, 2014 - 06:00AM
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A new automated system will allow sailors to unlock their Non-Resident Training Course accounts — a common problem caused by a summer cybersecurity push that led to more than 200,000 requests to the program’s help desk, the Navy announced Dec. 30.

Under a policy launched in August, the Navy inactivated all NRTC accounts left unused for 30 or more days. On the day the new rule went into effect, about 92 percent of the accounts were locked out Navy-wide, said Thomas P. Phillips, supervisor of certifications and credentialing programs for the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program and NRTC, in an email.

Since then, the Navy’s unlocked about 11,500 accounts, but more have been created and more have gone dormant: As of Dec. 27, of 215,693 users, more than 202,600 — or 94 percent — were locked out, Phillips said.

The Navy has automated the unlocking feature in a move that will unburden the NRTC help desk. Users whose accounts have been dormant for 30-45 days can go to https://www.courses.netc.navy.mil and reactivate their account via Common Access Card verification, the Navy said. Those with accouts inactive for longer than 45 days can reactivate them with their CAC and answers to “challenge questions,” according to a Dec. 30 news release.

It’s not the first glitch for the NRTC website, which went down for more than two weeks in June when planned maintenance took longer than anticipated.

If problems persist with your account, contact the help desk at NRTC@navy.mil or 877-264-8583.